There was nothing yet to translate. That was what Elaine assumed when not even a strip sheet of paper with Azran glyphs was seen on her desk. Descole kept himself occupied with his work, mostly staying in his office. Elaine suspected that he may have been close to something though. One day during the week she had seen him in the library, looking through a shelf that had several atlases. That had to be some sort of sign, yes? Even if it was a minimal one at most.
How long has it been since she actually first met Descole? Elaine counted up the months in her head and unless she was mistaken, it was at the very least a little more than two and half years. It was hard to believe that it had actually been that long, or everything that had happened in between. It was almost like a strange dream or brief hallucination. Though the later might have been a bit of an over exaggeration.
Elaine did have to wonder though. If she had the option of going back two years and making it so she was never kidnapped (either by leaving with her colleagues or never mentioning her Azran reading skills to Descole), would she have taken it? It was a hard choice. Everything that had happened up to now had been chaotic, destructive and even violent. But there had been a certain taste of adventure in it all. Maybe a little thrilling here and there when Elaine looked back on it all.
Adventure and archaeology. A rather delicious combination if Elaine said so herself. Something she had an interest in and loved since childhood, and something that always kept her guessing. Sure, some of the more legal and ethical matters had drained away for those moments any sense of excitement or only replaced it with stress and worry. But with that were no such problems, Elaine could freely think on some moments with a smile. On one or two occasions, it made her feel some guilt. Like she was almost smiling at things she had disagreed with. And she wouldn't be too sure how to respond to on those occasions.
"So, Descole's been in 'is office all day? 'E 'asn't even come out once?" Elaine had just finished her lunch and had offered to help clean, but Raymond didn't give her a chance. So she had opted to just stay in the kitchen and talk with Raymond while he did clean up. While Elaine didn't wash anything, she was able to convince the older Scot to let her put the cleaned plates and pots away.
"He was up even before I was." Raymond said. A twinge of concern in his voice. "Likely he's truly deep into whatever he is researching now. Maybe even close to a breakthrough in his mind."
"And do you believe that yourself?"
"I couldn't say for certain, but I would like to believe so, miss." After the last plate was cleaned and put away, Raymond continued. "When I was in his office yesterday to bring him his tea, I was able to note where focus seemed to be in the atlas he was looking in."
"Oh?"
"Unless I'm mistaken, there may be a chance that the Master's next location of interest may be in Russia."
"Russia?" Elaine furrowed her brows. "It… seems a bit odd compared to where all of the other ruins 'ave been. But I suppose we can't really say 'ow the minds of the Azran worked exactly."
"Perhaps, but it is just a guess on my part. I still have a chance of being wrong." Elaine folded her arms as she tilted her head to the side.
"It would be an interesting trip, I suppose. Maybe something will go right for Descole." Elaine mused. "'As 'e said anything else about 'is current study?"
"He hasn't talked about it too much. He-." The door to the kitchen opened then. Descole stood there before saying,
"Raymond, can I go over some details with you in my office?"
"Yes Master." Elaine was left alone then. No acknowledgement from Descole towards her. Alone in the kitchen, Elaine leaned against the counter as she looked out the window. Sunny. Bright. A complete contrast to the time it rained when she and Descole had gone outside for a walk.
Her mind wandered back to the incident at the Vault of Akbadain. Thinking through every scenario she could think of, she couldn't help but question what could have happened had Raymond not come to the rescue. It was a terrifying thought almost. Targent seemed like the type organization in which torture was second nature. Her mind was certainly no assistance since it was keen to rather disturbing images in her mind. Usually herself and Descole with various bruises, bleedings and one or two broken bones. Once or twice the horrid thought of certain 'things' happening to her involving a soldier or two had come to mind much to her disgust. She actually had a nightmare about it once, and could faintly recall Descole being forced to watch in said nightmare.
Elaine pinched the skin between her eyes. She was letting her imagination get the best of her and running too wild. She tried to think logically. Torture was likely, but they wouldn't go to such extremes against woman (or men even), would they? Elaine tried to assure herself that. It would accomplish nothing for them. But Elaine frowned as her stomach slowly turned. It would still be a torture mentally and physically, and would possibly leave her with a feeling of humiliation. Especially if Descole had to watch…
Elaine stood away from the counter and left for her currently most frequently visited room, the library. She would have preferred hearing Descole playing piano. Just imagining it made her feel a little calmer from her horrid thoughts. But since he was obviously busy with Raymond, Elaine had to distract her mind to try and forget about her thoughts the next best way. With reading material.
Reading had helped mostly. While not ridding the thoughts completely, it had eased them much better and distracted her from them for the most part. When the sun began lowering, setting the sky orange and lighting the room in the same shade of light, it made the room much more relaxing. This was what she needed.
"Elaine?" Elaine nearly jumped in the armchair she was in and sharply looked up to see Descole standing by her chair.
"D-Descole? Something wrong?"
"No, just wondering where you were?" He cocked his head to the side. "You're not usually this jumpy."
"You surprised me," Elaine muttered. "I wasn't expecting anything. I just wanted to get my mind off things."
"Such as…?"
"Doesn't matter. Now is there something you want?" Descole looked down at her for a moment. Was he not convinced by Elaine's response? But that question was ended when he spoke again.
"I thought I should inform you that through the details I've been researching, it appears our next destination will be in Russia. I've already have a pinpoint location in a mountainous region and it's not too far away from a small town so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding it."
"And, what do you 'ope to find there?" Descole didn't speak but he held out a small piece of paper to her with Azran glyphs written on it. "I've already pinpointed and calculated the location. Why don't you tell me what we'll find?" Elaine stared at Descole for a moment before she took the paper and looked at the writing. She had gotten use to Descole's writing just enough to make out small sentences with little to no effort. "'With what remains of our civilization, we gift the successors of the world, a link to our legacy'."
"Their legacy? Interesting. Definitely something Targent would want." Descole mused, rubbing his chin. "We'll have to go to Russia as soon as possible to at the very least secure the location. Once we find what lies there, I'll plan some more."
"What about that tracker?" Elaine brought up. "Anything useful from it." Descole tightened his lips momentarily before he replied.
"I've done some mild dissection on it. And I have been able to trace it's signal to where the Nest is located."
"And that's good, isn't it?"
"It… It is. The only problem now is to plan how to infiltrate without being caught, while simultaneously finding out where Johanna could actually be in such a place."
"Bronev mentioned a granddaughter." Elaine brought up, thinking back to her encounter with the Targent leader. "Do you think perhaps Johanna could be kept with 'er as a friend? Assuming this granddaughter is around Johanna's age at least." Descole stiffened a little at the mention of granddaughter to Elaine's curiousity. But she figured it was just from trying to imagine Bronev being a father let alone grandfather. She found it hard to fathom herself.
"I… suppose that is a possibility. Not something to rule out." Descole said, slowly. "And I suppose that would mean Johanna would be kept close to him."
"I guess."
"Did he say anything about his granddaughter?"
"'Is granddaughter?" Elaine thought it odd Descole would ask about that, but complied. "Erm, I think 'e mentioned something about 'er 'aving stubborn days, I think." Descole gave a small smirk.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say this grandchild isn't too fond of him."
"Giving the circumstances, it would be a nice thought," Elaine admitted. "Er, could you do me a favour?"
"Depends. It may be limited depending what you ask." Descole answered.
"Could you play the piano for me?" Descole looked a little surprised, either from the question itself or the bluntlness.
"I suppose I could. You don't usually do. I normally play regardless of whether you're there or not, and you listen in. Any particular reason to ask now?"
"I just want to 'ear." Elaine replied.
"… Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Non!" Elaine winced at how quick her answer was. Too much of a giveaway. "You… You wouldn't want to 'ear it. Just some stupid worries from an overactive imagination."
"Maybe, but I'm still curious and it's bound to come out anyway." Elaine looked away and folded her arms.
"I just want to 'ear you play piano."
"… Were your thoughts on family?"
Elaine was still.
"… Were they on me?"
So still.
"… Targent, perhaps?"
A small blink from Elaine and she could already tell Descole was triumphantly smirking, while she gave a faint scowl.
"Good to know I'm capable of getting some degree of truth from you with little effort. Now, allow me to guess. You're still thinking about what happened at the Vault?" Elaine sighed. May as well get this over with so she could hear Descole play already.
"I was… I was just thinking things could 'ave been worse." Elaine mumbled. "Like… torture. And being forced to watch it 'appen." Descole didn't say anything at first. Elaine found the lack of response a bit unnerving until she felt his hand on her shoulder.
"While from what I know Targent isn't a stranger to torture methods, it's usually only to extract information from some poor soul or as a high form of punishment for someone who is deemed a traitor, depending on what it is they've done. I can't necessarily say we would have been safe, but if that was the case I think their focus would have been on me. Besides, I would… I would try to make sure they're focus was on me, rather then you. Johanna too if they dared to go that far, though chances are I would already have their blood on my hands."
"… Merci. But, I would still like to 'ear you play piano. It would make me feel better." Elaine didn't look up at Descole as she made that small confession. But her focus was soon on him again as he grabbed her hand and pulled her up. For a moment, there had been a light smirk on his face but it had been brief.
"I'm sure there is another thing or two in your mind that concerns you, but don't worry about it. I've…" Descole paused momentarily. "I've definitely grown to care for you, Elaine. For you and your wellbeing. Just rest assure that I don't plan to let them get you." He gave a small kiss on the wrist of the hand he was holding. Elaine gave a small smile in return.
"Come, Elaine. I'll let you pick the song."
"Surprise me."
OMAKE THEATRE: Where Layton characters are chibi-fied!
Descole scowled down at Targent as they surrounded him as he stood on top of the Vault of Akbadain. Damn those bastards. The one time he finds something before Layton, and these guys show up! Typical!
But they were nothing compared to Lion Bastard Number One. Or Leon Bronev as his real name was. Said man looked up at Descole and held up a megaphone.
"Descole! This, is your father. Stop acting like a drama queen and get down here now. It's way past your bedtime."
"Dad. I'm ass grown man, in his late thirties to early forties," Descole spat. "If you think I'm going to do what you say, you may want to check you're wearing those glasses right." Bronev scowled. God he hated when Descole was like this.
"Descole! I'm ordering you to get down! Now! I don't care what age you are! You're a terrible adult!"
"You kidnapped my daughter!"
"Details, details." Bronev waved it off casually. "Just get down here now, or your girlfriend is coming with us!"
"She's not my girlfriend! She's my lover! It sounds more adult and classy!"
"It just sounds like you're friends with benefits."
"You're so dead, dad!" Descole then did what any other person would do and jumped down from the incredibly tall fortress (the actual use of which is still uncertain) and ran towards the bastard who messed up his life. Only to get a bitch slap from him.
"Huge disappoint son. Huge disappoint." Bronev shucked his head before sitting down on a rock and pulled Descole across his lap. "Now you're going to learn manners."
"Wha-AH!"
From the moment the rest of Targent (and Elaine) heard the argument, none were certain how to react. It didn't anymore (if anything, just made the problem worse) when Bronev had pulled the masked man onto his lap and proceeded to spank his cute butt.
"Ow! Ow! Ow, quit it!"
"Never." Bronev replied before he continued with the unmerciful spanking. Everyone else was cringing a bit, not too sure if their leader (and current kidnapper, in Elaine's case) had forgotten they were present.
Elaine bit her lip as she tried to think of what she could do to end this madness. She glanced down, and an idea struck.
"Ow! Damn it, dad! I said, stop- OW!"
"Stop right there!" Bronev stopped his spanking and looked up along with a humiliated Descole to see Elaine, holding the suit jacket she was wearing closed as she glared at the older man. How did she get out of the car she was in and the handcuffs that were on her? Simple. A plot device that shall never be explained, hinted at or ever mentioned.
"Look at these!" Elaine through the jacket opened to reveal her… very, lovely lady lumps.
Very, very lovely lady lumps indeed.
Bronev and Descole stared, jaws dropped along with every other man of Targent (because in the world of Professor Layton, you're about as likely to see modern day, prostitute clothes on women as said world not being filled with heartache and angst), and approximately 89.9999% of the men present had spontaneous nose bleeds and collapsed to the ground, a majority of them with the same kind of happy smile you'd see on a drugged up guy.
Bronev was one of these people. Descole, while he did have a nose bleed, had not lost enough blood to pass out, and as such, stood up shakily as looked down on the happy, near death from blood loss soldiers as well as their inhumane amount of blood.
"… Are they related to Sanji from One Piece?"
First of all, thanks again for all the reviews :) It's really great to see so many people liking this story.
I also want to say that I've had some more ideas for one shots. The first is idea is slightly inspired from a tv series in the early 2000's called 'The 10th Kingdom' and the song ''Lil Red Riding Hood', the version sung by 'Bowling for Soup'. Basically, Elaine wears a red cloak while Descole is a wolf, with wolf ears and a tail, who becomes a bit more… feral on the night of a full moon.
The second idea involves Descole, Elaine in Targent sometime around the Infinite Vault of Akbadain. There are several directions for this. The events that happened there being a bit more violent, Elaine and Descole being thrown into the back of a jeep or truck or something (with or without Johanna in there as well), and sometime into the journey, Raymond comes to the rescue. Or, Elaine and Descole are in a cell at Targent HQ.
So what do you guys think? Let me know if you can :)